Disclaimer: I don't own the darn!-they're-the-cutest couple. Period. Oh, but I do own the story.

Summary: He was leaving Japan to look for what was most precious to him. And Eriol was leaving for good. Tomoyo was just a last minute companion, nothing more. But she was fine with it. Leaving with Eriol, she thought, was an escape. Truly, she was fine with that.

Author's Notes: Good, gracious Lord! A third installment! I can't believe it!


Chapter 2

Eriol couldn't help but notice that the depressing atmosphere of the bar was still hanging in and about the room. He sideglanced the silent Tomoyo who was currently preoccupied with pinning her tresses gone astray. They have that exquisite luster that shines and shows different intensities of the dark colors that blended to be the color of her hair.

Her true hair color... that is only yet another one of the questions he wanted an answer to, however trivial it may sound. Eriol continued to observe her through the quaint light and for the moment, Tomoyo's hair shone blue-black. He found it be mysterious, deep and gorgeous- like the midnight sky.

'Definitely more gorgeous than Kaho's...' he thought to himself, resting his chin on the cup of his palm. 'But with all the complications this package has...'

Eriol sighed, disappointment evident and rather loudly, too. He closed his eyes. If he hadn't, he would've noticed Tomoyo get distracted and look towards his direction.

o0o..o0o...i'm not okay...o0o...o0o

Tomoyo rarely got to see this side of THE Eriol Hiirigazawa- the all-powerful magician, the mysterious, yet handsome classmate, the ever distant friend. His thousand faces never did once reflect this side of him. And she was priveleged to time her distraction with his unawareness.

Eriol Hiirigazawa looked defenseless without the high barriers he put up, even when with his friends. He looked tired and nevertheless, forlorn. Without the colorful comedy his creations create, Eriol seemed untouchable, even.

'More like, unreachable...' Tomoyo corrected herself.

His glasses were askew and reflected the mellow light of the place. It would've been annoying if ever it was pushed up his nose bridge a just little higher.

'Covering those exquisite, mysterious sapphires... But,' and Tomoyo smiled inwardly, 'right now, they're even illuminating his eyes. Nice.'

Tomoyo felt envious- not the raging kind, but rather the creeping, subjective kind of envy rooting from a shortcoming she knew was from her part. She had always wanted to be in the background, and here was a person set even behind that. Eyeing everyone on the stage, looking after those running the show, choreographing those behind the sets... She was the director, while he was the producer backing everything up- even her salary. Tomoyo wanted to laugh with her queer analogy.

But Tomoyo Daidouji, singled-out in the high corporate society as the heiress to the mighty Sonomi, is proper, polite and every inch perfect. Laughing at herself would be ruining all that.

There came a point in her life where she questioned if it was even necessary. Laughing, crying and all that- emotions which make her less of what was thought of her by a society moved by stereotypes and conformists.

'Like the Mona Lisa... peeling off at the edges and revealing the grotesque oak paneling- the truth that it is a false copy of the lost masterpiece.' she had answered to herself before.

And even then, young as she was- for she was merely seven years old when she was thrown into their clawing hands- Tomoyo couldn't find that power people claimed to be exuding from her- that with a mere gesture from her, all noise would die down. That her very presence demanded immediate respect and service. Tomoyo Daidouji found that not in herself but within her mother.

And Sonomi Daidouji was not a happy woman.

o0o...o0o...i'm not okay...o0o...o0o

The sharp clink of glass meeting glass took Eriol's immediate attention.

He looked to his side and saw that Tomoyo completely forgot about her hair as she had already reached out for the long-necked bottle just across the bar counter.

She downed a shot and had closed her eyes, her long dark lashes sweeping over her pale skin. Tomoyo didn't look the least bit inebriated but she did seem happy... esctatic, even.

"So you're rejoicing now?" he had asked, but it sounded more confirming than questioning.

The Daidouji heiress lazily opened an eye. She didn't look at him however, and Eriol was about to change subject when she began to speak.

"I- I'm so sorry, Hiirigazawa-kun. How could I ever repay you?"

She filled another shot then drank again. She drank more slowly this time and when she was through, she brought her amethyst eyes up to the wizard and eyed him curiously by the rim of the small, unetched glass of the vessel.

'She decided to avoid it herself...'

Eriol pulled out a cigarette, flicked his finger and instantly, the thin object was lit and literally clouding the room with puffs of its smoke.

Tomoyo's sensitive nose wrinkled in the most amusing sense at the hint of the revolting smell.

"And since when did you start smoking?" she asked in a very reprimanding tone, raising a slender brow and leaning forward to her companion as she took it from his hand.

Rather irritated from thinking, Eriol, too, raised his eyebrow and sarcastically replied back, "And since when did you become an alcoholic?"

Tomoyo sighed in defeat, returned the cigarette to its rightful owner and retreated to her seat, looking back longingly to her glass as she fiddled it with her slender fingers.

"Oh... of course. Silly me. I'm meddling with your personal affairs. I'm not being really grateful then..." she said finally, cutting the awkward silence developing between them.

"No. Don't be... it's your concern for your friends that make you the way you are... However, Daidouji-san, I do appreciate that you understand its limits... especially towards me." Eriol quickly said, giving much thought of her gestures.

"As to thanking me, we have to think about that, ne?"

Tomoyo stopped looking blankly to her empty glass and turned to truly face Eriol. She noted the playfulness in his words and found it rather insulting, but nevertheless a challenge.

"What do you have in mind?" Tomoyo said sulkily, every word slipping off her tongue so elegantly yet maintaining a mocking tone, no one could've done it better.

Eriol knew more than anything else that Tomoyo Daidouji was dead serious when it came to debts of gratitude.

The heiress, as time has made her, became one who dutifully fulfilled debts of gratitude even to the extent of going overboard just to make sure there would be none left to remind the person in question why Tomoyo was thankful. This left her peacefully alone, in the back of the heat of things and, seemingly as preparation for her inheritance, the one people owe a lot to.

Eriol decided to play between those lines of stubborn gratefulness and perhaps, even use Tomoyo Daidouji to her resources' limits. Going overboard, he thought as he watched Tomoyo stare into his eyes, was never out of the question. Eriol leaned in and placed a long, bony index finger on Tomoyo's nose bridge.

'Just what are you doing, Hiirigazawa-kun?' Tomoyo wondered, as she allowed her sight to be diverted by the digit before going back to their staring contest. She pouted playfully and was presented with his trademark Cheshire Cat grin.

'His annoying grin, once again...' she thought, reminiscing the past where it was so often given to her as the supposed answer whenever the magician seemed to always be there when the cards were out loose.

"If she pleases, my London flat is ready for a shared occupancy with yours truly, Miss Tomoyo Daidouji." he whispered, tracing the line of her nose and noting its uncanny resemblance to Renaissance sculptures, before letting his finger rest on her feathery soft lips. They were slightly parted, as with her eyes that were wide with surprise, Eriol figured, because of his offer.

Her brilliant amethyst eyes dimmed a little as Tomoyo thought it over, then catching Eriol by surprise as she enveloped his finger with her mouth, bit it with the gentlest of strengths. By then, there was no doubt to be seen in her lilac pools, only confidence. She pulled at his wrist so that there was no more hindrance, then began to speak. "I see no reason to decline such a lovely offer, dear sir."

He wasn't sure if he should be beaming with happiness or sulking for pulling such an irrational deal with a friend. And so Eriol opted for the safest choice yet; to hide his excitement and surprise with the smile that, all these years, never failed him.

'Really... just what are you planning on doing to me, Hiirigazawa-kun?'

o0o...o0o...i'm not okay...o0o...o0o


Author's Notes: I'm just a little free that's why I have been updating weekly. Couldn't say the same for the following chapters, though. Life's tough, and we all know that. There's absolutely nothing I can do. But there IS one thing YOU can do. And that is to push the button for reviews. NO SLACKING!

SanzoGirl: Once again, thank you for reviewing. Oh, and Eriol MUST leave since if he wouldn't, I'll have to retype the summary! (Hehe...)

tomoyo-amethyst: I don't really like putting up Tomoyo as a pitiful character, but I just can't help it!

Convoy Butterfly: Thank you! Thank you! However, the chapters addresing your concerns in your first review for I'm Not Okay is still far away... Please bear with me.

Final Author's Notes: This concludes the third installment. I advise you to leave comments. I do not care whether they're lengthy or cut short, if they're flames or dripping with anxiety for the next chapter. I just want feedback. Thanks.